Operations to remove oil from two stranded ships in Taiwanese waters weeks after they ran aground finally began yesterday, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said.
The EPA said that it started draining the oil tanks on a cargo ship from Niue, which was stranded in waters in the northern part of Penghu County on Feb. 25, as well as the tanks of a Taiwanese vessel belonging to TS Lines Co (德翔海運), which ran aground on a shallow reef about 250m offshore of New Taipei City’s Shimen District (石門) on Thursday last week.
An environmental group discovered a small oil leak from the Niue ship on Monday last week, raising awareness to the potential for an ecological disaster to occur.
Department of Water Quality Director Yeh Chun-hung (葉俊宏) said that bad weather had been preventing authorities from removing the oil from the ships, but yesterday’s clearer weather allowed authorities to begin the long-delayed operations.
The EPA estimated that it would take two days to remove the 145 tonnes of diesel fuel from the Niue ship, and 12 days to remove the 407 tonnes of heavy crude oil from the TS Lines ship, Yeh said.
The EPA said that it would continue to monitor the sea, the vessels and removal operations with a surveillance drone.
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
‘T-DOME’: IBCS would increase Taiwan’s defense capabilities, enabling air defense units to use data from any sensor system and cut reaction time, a defense official said A defense official yesterday said that a purported new arms sale the US is assembling for Taiwan likely includes Integrated Battle Command Systems (IBCS). The anonymous official’s comments came hours after the Financial Times (FT) reported that Washington is preparing a US$20 billion arms sale encompassing “Patriot missiles and other weapons,” citing eight sources. The Taiwanese official said the IBCS is an advanced command and control system that would play a key role in President William Lai’s (賴清德) flagship defense program, the “T-Dome,” an integrated air defense network to counter ballistic missiles and other threats. The IBCS would increase Taiwan’s
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